The place for all things American Idol. Info, snark and real opinions.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Top 3 Perform

Welcome back. Well we are only a week away from crowning the next American Idol. Either Scotty, Lauren or Haley will take home the prize. During the past week the remaining 3 visited their hometowns. All of the videos and news about their hometowns will happen tomorrow during the 1 hour results show. Tonight the contestants have to sing 3 songs. They will sing 1 chosen by the judges, 1 chosen by Jimmy Iovine, and they get to choose 1 for themselves. Should be an interesting night. I know that Scotty has a pretty big following, but these performances rather than past performances might dictate who will be in the Finale. It might all come down to tonight. We shall see, so as we do, let's get to it:

The contestants are not only getting mentored by Jimmy this week, but Beyonce will help them for their round 1 songs. Pretty cool that she is there to help out.

How Did The Contestants Do?:

Round 1:

Scotty (His Choice=Amazed): Beyonce doesn't think that Scotty needs to go into his higher range because he is amazing already, Scotty wants to push himself even further. I kind of thought Scotty was gonna start singing "Baby lock them doors..." but he chose this more well known Lonestar song. It's odd but Scotty actually sounds more country tonight then what he usually sounds like if that makes sense. It seemed he had more of a twang on his voice. It's a very typical Scotty performance, he does go to that higher range and it was very controlled and sounded pretty good. He seemed to go out of sync with the music at a point or two, but he did his usual business. If you like Scotty then this is perfect, if Scotty was never your favorite then he didn't really do a lot to sway ya. Nothing amazing in my opinion. Grade=BSteven: Thinks he keeps getting better and better. Loves that he took the song up a notch.Jennifer: Thinks he has grown so much as a performer over the weeks, and loved that he opened the show so well.Randy: Thinks it was a great song choice, thinks there were some pitchy spots but then the end of the song was "money". Do The Judges Agree With Me?: Sorta. They definitely enjoyed it way more than I did. I'm glad Randy noticed that Scotty had a couple pitchy moments, but then he kind of dismissed it and said it was really good. I thought it was pretty average.

Lauren(Her Choice=Wild One): Beyonce' tells Lauren to be fearless and not be nervous when performing and just let go and trust herself. I never heard this Faith Hill song before, but it's a fun uptempo song. The song was a little all over the place, and since I don't know the original it's tough to say if she sang it the same way,. If she sang it the way it should be sung then she did a good job. She hit her spots, there were times it seemed she lost her breath and missed some of those higher notes, but she pulled through it. Definitely not her best, but far from her worst. Grade=BJennifer: Loves that she attacked the song and created a moment for herself.Randy: Loves seeing her have fun and wants her to keep stepping it up and having a good time. Steven: Thinks she had plenty of moments and is so ready for "this".Do The Judges Agree With Me?: Pretty much. Again they probably enjoyed it a bit more than I did, but Lauren did a fine job.

Haley(Her Choice=What Is and What Should Never Be): Beyonce' loves Haley's fearlessness of choosing this song and loves her &$^%@ that got bleeped out. We can only imagine what Beyonce' said. Haley is going for this Led Zepplin song which is something that nobody would have guessed she would pick. Haley starts the song very low with only a little electric guitar, the guitarist is none other than her father, which is awesome. Never heard this song before, but I know I will look it up after because it is very cool. I don't know the original therefore I don't know how much she changed it up, but for what it was it was still very very good. At one point when Haley was getting back on stage she slipped up the steps. But she kept going and maybe only missed a note. To go from falling, back into this pretty rock and fast song is impressive. She did a really fantastic job. Randy gives her another deserved standing ovation. Grade=A-Randy: Loves that when it's time to be great she is doing it. Calls it one of her best performances ever.Steven: Tells her it doesn't matter how many times you fall but how many times you get up. Calls it superb.Jennifer: Loves that she kept going after falling, thinks it was a tough song and she sang it really really well.Do The Judges Agree With Me?: Definetly. Haley has just been killing it the past few weeks. Like Randy said she is peaking at a great time.

Judges Feel Round 1 Goes To: Haley

Round 2: (Before the contestants perform we get to see their initial auditions)

Scotty(Jimmy's Choice=Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not): Jimmy thinks it is a perfect song choice for him. I love that Jimmy is loving the song choice after he just picked it for him. Funny. Anyways this is a more fast moving song. Scotty brings out his acoustic guitar and has a pure vocal performance, no stunts or tricks. I like his voice a lot more this time around then the first performance. Don't like the crazy facial expressions, but it is what it is with him. I'd love the judges to once tell him to cool it with the eyebrow movement and interesting stuff he does, but they never do. Much better performance by him. Grade=B+Steven: Thinks it was beautiful and he sang it well too.Jennifer: Thought it was so good, and requests that he cut his hair back to what it initially was if he makes it to the finale.Randy: Loved the song choice, and feels that he almost reached "Garth Brooks" level. Do The Judges Agree With Me?: Pretty much. They definitely love Scotty and feel he can do no wrong. I don't think it was his best, but do think that he sang and performed very well.

Lauren(Jimmy's Choice=If I Die Young): Jimmy has wanted Lauren to sing this song since he met her, and Lauren is pumped about it. It's a more mellow performance, but it allows her voice to really settle in and gives her the ability to hit those soft moments much better than in the first performance. At one point in the middle Lauren misses her cue and in turn some of the lyrics but she tries to get back into it. It does mess her up and then when she hit a higher note she was screeching a bit. The performance was all over the place. It had it's nice moments, but there were some rougher moments as well. Grade=B-Jennifer: Thinks she has the most beautiful tone of the remaining 3 contestants. Thinks Lauren got caught up in the moment herself but still loves her honesty.Randy: Loves that she re-grouped and was able to hit her notes beautifully and thinks it was a nice song choice. Steven: Thinks that she nailed it again even though she got caught up for a second.Do The Judges Agree With Me?: Not really. I thought that when she got caught up it actually made her sound not so great, but they loved that she got caught up and lost in the moment. I feel earlier in the season they would have been all over that, well maybe not this group of judges, but in past years they would have. At this point the judges are just going with it.

Haley(Jimmy's Choice=Rhiannon): Jimmy has wanted Haley to sing this Fleetwood Mac song. He thinks she identifies with Stevie Nicks and thinks it's a perfect fit. They take the original version and flip it upside down in the beginning. They make it slowed down and very soulful. The backup singers were a little loud so it was tough to hear some of the runs that Haley was doing with the song. Haley is so controlled and they have this crazy wind machine going, so it would be easy to forget whats going on, but she really stays with it. Probably not as awesome as the first performance but still really really good. Grade=B+
Randy: Thinks she did a good job,and was on tone. Loved her Haley growl and thinks she is in the zone.
Steven: Loved that it was different than her first performance and that she sang it really well like they knew she would.Jennifer: Loved the beautiful moment she was having, wished she pushed it a bit more, but loved the contrast from her first performance. Do The Judges Agree with Me?: They do. They definitely wish she went further but loved what was there.

Scotty(Judge's Choice=She Believes In Me): It would have been cool if the judges went against the grain and chose a non-country song and made Scotty be a bit more creative, but they chose this Kenny Rogers song instead. I think Scotty did a very nice job. He was very controlled and in tune for the most part. There was a moment that he was a little pitchy and he ended the song with a falsetto which is different. I give him credit for trying to switch it up a little. Grade=B+
Steven: Thinks he put it over the top for him right there.
Jennifer: Thinks he really hit the chorus beautifully. Is proud of him.
Randy: Loved seeing him believe in himself, loves that he was sweet and tender and good all over. Do The Judges Agree With Me?: Pretty much. They love this kid and they really aren't going to say too much differently at this point.

Lauren(Judge's Choice=I Hope You Dance): There are some really nice low and sweet moments and then some big moments in the song. Lauren is lucky to have this song to sing after her last performance, you don't want to leave the audience with a rough moment like she had. Lauren definitely hit those bigger notes with a lot of control and was beautifully in tune. She did a few things differently with the song. I wish she changed it up a bit more, but it's a really beautiful song so you don't want to stray to far away from the original. But when she did do some things differently, like the end, it makes an impact. Grade=B+
Jennifer: Got goosebumps listening to Lauren. Thinks it was beautiful and thinks she won the round already(Since Haley is up next me thinks that Ms.Lopez saw Haley's rehearsal and is going off of that)
Randy: Thinks she slayed it, and feels Lauren is in it to win it.
Steven: Is so happy, thinks she is so happy, and thinks the audience is so happy. Do The Judges Agree With Me?: Sorta kinda. They loved it and Jennifer is already giving her the round before Haley even performs. Lauren definitely did a beautiful job.

Haley(Judge's Choice=You Oughta Know): This is one of Alanis Morrisette's biggest hits and it's a cool choice by the judges. It's a tough song, there are a lot of fast bits, but during Haley's performance she slowed it down. The first half of the song was a little slow and didn't do much, but once the chorus kicked in she started to really kill it. By far her first performance was her best, but this was pretty cool and she did a really nice job with it. Grade=B+Randy: Thinks America has a tough decision on their hands, because he thinks Haley is in it to win it despite a few trouble spots. Steven: Thinks she was amazing and nailed the choruses.Jennifer: thinks it was a really tough song and no one can match her. Loved the choruses even though there were some trouble spots in the middle when Haley was moving around.Do The Judges Agree With Me?: Sure. They were probably a little less enthused than I am, but they still feel it was really really good and she did a lot with a tough song.

*For the first time maybe all season I didn't really see any bias coming from the judges. Sure the judges love Scotty and will never say a bad word about him, but they loved Lauren a lot, and at one point gave Haley a standing ovation. The judges gave Round 1 to Haley, Round 2 to Scotty and Round 3 to Lauren. It's tough to be more fair than that.

*I think Haley overall had a great night. Her worst performance was still pretty darn good. Lauren was spotty. When she was good she was really good, but when she stumbled she stumbled hard. Scotty was the same old same old. He wasn't spectacular but he didn't do anything that bad. It's tough to go crazy over Scotty when he does the same stuff every week and every time out there. The girls switch it up pretty consistently. That's why when Scotty does something different like when he sang "Gone" a couple weeks back it was awesome to see because it pushed him outside the box, this week was pretty generic Scotty.

* I think Haley beneifited the most from the Contestant's Song Choice, Scotty benifited the most from Jimmy Iovine's Song Choice, and Lauren beneifted the most from Judge's Song Choice.

Going Home Predictions:

Going Home=Lauren. I think her rough moment in her second performance might have done her in. I think the Scotty fans will vote and vote and then vote some more, I think Haley had a great night and is still feeling the great effects of her unbelievable past few weeks and had a nice overall night. Therefore, I think Lauren is going to come up a bit shy. This is a tough call but someone isn't going to make it and unfortunetly I don't see 2 ladies making it to the finale.

Come on back here tomorrow night to learn the results and find out the 2 contestants that will make it into the Season 10 American Idol Finale. See you soon.

1 comment:

Great job with your recaps this season! I feel (1) Haley is the most improved and deserves to at least be in the finals, (2) Lauren's early potential never was fulfilled and left me disappointed over the season, and (3) Scotty is over-rated but will win it because he typically wins the votes each week by a large margin.